IMPRESSION ON THE LIVING OLD
The old in the society remain vulnerable all sorts of problems due to their physical incapacity for their old age. It is characteristically prudent for the government to provide proper care for the old aged people in the society and ensure that they receive proper medical care so that their lives can be longer (Malek-Ahmadi, 2015). Everybody wants to have longevity and as a result is always looking for the best services in their lives. These people experience a plethora of health challenges that continue to put their lives at enormous risk. Many suffer obesity-related complications as well as arthritis that renders them immobile or make their movement further limited thus creating other issues. As research shows, over 70% of the old-age population live with obesity (Mckee et al., 2015). Further, they have a very limited functional abilities thus making them live dangerously. Their lifestyle is often a culmination of critical health complications that put them into uncertain risks that replicate to other risks. In this regard, I discuss what I learnt from the assigned video on the living old by PBS Frontline.
According to the video, the old population in America has grown enormously over time. It is also projected to grow further in the coming years. As the population of the older age continues to grow increasingly high, the kind of care they receive is still inefficient and cannot support this growing population. Another thing that I learnt from the video is that there are no enough physicians with the required level of expertise and knowledge to care for the older people of 85 plus years. It poses a serious challenge in the quest to make their lives better. The insufficiency in the training level of the physicians means that the older people have to face several challenges despite their aging. Most of their challenges are more health related, and they battle several diseases that vary in their severity and can lead to loss of lives.
One thing I learnt that I did not know
The view of the video has indeed brought new things to my knowledge. According to the video, the older population is the fastest growing. It is the one thing that I had not previously known. It is surprising that 85 and above population is the fastest growing (PBS Frontline, 2016). Given other age groups, the oldest would be least expected to be the fastest growing population. However, the video demonstrates that it is the fastest growing and that something I did not know
Most surprising thing
It is surprising that despite being in the same age group, their physiological disparity is surprising. The level of physical activity exhibited by some older people is the most surprising. It is clear in the video that certain people are still very active in the late 80s and even in their 90s. It is surprising that a person of that age would still have the energy to work perform other physical chores and offer assisting others. Some are even participating in voluntary services.
Information that will affect my nursing practice
The information that is most likely to affect my practice is agonies the older people face despite the attempts to keep them alive for long (PBS Frontline, 2016). As a practicing nurse, it is important that appropriate care is provided to the society and especially the older. However, watching the video gives me a totally different view of the situation and makes me feel that they should simply be let go rather than keep them alive for long and undergo the relentless challenges.
Response 1
The shortage of physicians to take care of the older people is indeed a situation that should be worrying. It is true that with this kind of shortage, it would not be an honor to stretch the older beyond certain limits of longevity. Health is a critical aspect of human life and anything that compromises the health of an individual should be an enormous concern. With regard to this, it is clear that older age is a serious threat to health, therefore; bringing a life to an end at a certain age should really be something to ponder (Malek-Ahmadi, 2015). Since there are numerous problems associated with older age, it is important that the older people be saved of the agonies of this stage of life thus would be the thought of letting go of those we love as a way to save them from the relentless problems.
Response 2
Taking into account the revelations of the video, it is crystal overt that there is lots of health problems associated with old age. Despite the efforts that should be but to ensure that they are well cared for and live in sound health, it is literally impossible to guarantee them perfect health since there is a lot of physiological incapacity they face as well as become vulnerable infections. Such vulnerability only spells gloom and endangers their lives further. Therefore, your parents might have the long history of health problems might be lead to other thoughts rather than continual struggle to keep them alive. It is important that at one point in life we must accept certain difficulties and move on from them. Everyone wishes that their parents enjoy good life that is coupled with sound health. However, it is not prudent to let people who no longer enjoy anything in life to continue suffering in the name of living longer when there time only demise can save them from the agonies of older age (Malek-Ahmadi, 2015). Therefore, thought of how the suffering can be ended should come into view and if only death can rescue them then so be it.
References
Malek-Ahmadi, M. (2015). Age-Associated Alcohol and Driver Risk Differences in Older Adult DUI Offenders. Journal of Applied Gerontology
Mckee, G., Kearney, P. M., & Kenny, R. A. (2015). The factors associated with self-reported physical activity in older adults living in the community. Age and Ageing, 44(4), 586-592.
PBS Frontline. (2016). Retrieved March 17, 2016, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/livingold/view/
